Australia's Test skipper Pat Cummins is unable to comprehend the reason that led to the International Cricket Council (ICC) denying Usman Khawaja permission to sport a "dove carrying an olive branch in its beak" logo on his shoes and bat during the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan at the MCG.
After not being allowed to wear the shoes that displayed "All lives are equal" handwritten message during the first Test in Perth, Khawaja sported a black armband on the field and was reprimanded by the apex cricketing governing body following the conclusion of the game.
Dejected with the same, Khawaja placed a request to use a "dove carrying an olive branch in its beak" logo on his shoes and bat during the forthcoming 2nd Test but the ICC has yet again denied him permission.
Notably, the ICC's ruling has caught the attention of Cummins and he is taken by surprise. The Australian captain compared the symbol requested by Khawaja to the eagle sticker that their teammate Marnus Labuschagne uses on the back of his bats which represents a verse from the holy bible.
The logo that Khawaja requested to use is associated with Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which reads, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Hence, Cummins is perplexed as to why the ICC is giving a green signal to a symbol that displays a religious message and raising a red flag to the other which stands for a humanitarian cause.
"Not really, no - I don't know the ins and outs of the application, but I think it is pretty vanilla, a dove," Cummins was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo on Christmas Day.
"We really support Uzzy, I think he's standing up for what he believes and I think he's doing it really respectfully.
"All lives are equal and I don't think that's very offensive, and I'd say the same about the dove. That's Uzzy. He can hold his head high the way he's gone about it, but there's rules in place, so I believe the ICC have said they're not going to approve that. They make up the rules and you've got to accept it," he added.
